One of the problems associated with prior art food presses has been the non-uniformity of the final pressed product. Uniformity is important not only in connection with the quantity of food material to be incorporated into the patty, but also in relation to its shape and appearance.
Many food presses for forming patties have been considered. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,889 to Joffe discloses a mould for forming hamburger patties having an integral plastic flat top and sidewalls defining a cavity. The walls are notched at opposed locations, and the top has a U-shaped slot with its ends on a line between the points. The top is of reduced thickness between the slot ends and notches to form hinges. Unfortunately, this design suffers from the inability to form patties of uniform size, and is without the capacity to remove excess meat during patty formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,634 to Swearingen discloses a mould for forming ground meat into patties. The mould has a hollow, cylindrical collar, which may be placed on a surface, and a centre plug with a first end fitting closely into the collar. The first end is concave and has a plurality of outwardly extending dimples. The plug is inserted into the collar and pressed. Similar to the Joffe mould, this design also suffers from an inability to form patties of uniform size, and is without the capacity to remove excess meat during patty formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,162 to Fournier discloses a mould for forming patties comprising an annular flat lower disc and an upper annular disc. The upper disc is of a smaller diameter than the lower disc and has a depending wall. A hollow member extends from the centre of one disc while a complementary telescoping solid element extends from the centre of the other disc. When the two elements are in engagement, the discs are guided toward each other by the co-operating elements to form a patty with a central opening. Generally, the buying public objects to burger patties with missing portions and as a result this mould suffers disadvantages.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,602 to Siclari discloses a patty-making apparatus comprising an upper chamber for holding a food mix, and a lower chamber for holding stacked patty moulds. The chambers are separated by a partition having an opening therein so that food mix can pass from the upper chamber and into patty moulds in the lower chamber. The lower chamber is closed at the bottom in a resilient manner. Aside from being complex and thus expensive, the Siclari apparatus does not produce satisfactory uniformity in the patties, because their size depends on the amount of food mix dispensed from the upper chamber into the lower chamber each time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,308 to Neri discloses a patty moulding device including a stationary horizontal base plate and a mould with a through opening providing a mould cavity to accommodate material to be moulded. The mould is moveably mounted with respect to the base plate and is resiliently urged away from the base plate. A core element is detachably secured to the base plate within the mould cavity. The mould is moveable between a first position where the core element is disposed in the bottom of the mould, and a second position where the core element is disposed in a higher position within the mould cavity. Co-operating retaining devices hold the mould and core element in the first position when the mould is not in use. Unfortunately, this design is such that, when the mould is moved to form a patty, there is no place for excess meat to go, if any, resulting in non-uniform patties.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,881 to Anderson discloses a two-part cylindrical mould for manufacturing a hollow hamburger. Means are provided for forming a pocket in the meat. The process involves dispensing a metal foil insert into the hamburger to serve as a lining for the pocket. The lining remains in the hamburger during cooking.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,863,020 to Robinson discloses a method of forming a meat patty by pressing a predetermined quantity of minced meat into a mould, which imparts to the patty a series of concentric circular ribs separated by narrow circular grooves. This method suffers disadvantages in that because of the grooves, the patties lack uniformity. In addition, the method involves using plastic to remove the burger from the mould. Additionally, excess meat cannot be removed from the mould.
As will be appreciated, the prior art moulds discussed above do not provide for the formation of uniform patties from food product. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel press for making patties and method of making patties from food product.